Conference calls are typically provided by a conference service and are used to enable a calling party to have one or more other parties partake in a call. Such a conference call may allow all parties to participate during the call, or the conference call may be established so that some parties merely listen into the call and do not have a voice path to the conference.
Conference calls can be set up so that the calling party calls other participants and adds them to the call. Alternatively, other participants may be able call into the conference call themselves using specific details, such as a special telephone number, passcode and/or identification details.
Although conference calls may be used for entertainment or social purposes, they are primarily used for business purposes, namely to hold meetings whilst one or more users are situated at a remote location or traveling.
If a user involuntarily loses their connection to a conference call (i.e. becomes disconnected), in order to rejoin the conference call the user is required to repeat the process of re-connecting to the conference call. Such a process is often complicated and may require the user to provide specific details as mentioned above. There is a high probability that the user will not remember or have available the details that are necessary to re-connect to the conference call. Further, the user may be in a situation in which it is not easy or convenient to undertake and complete the re-connection process. Ultimately, during the time that the user is not connected to the conference, they may miss important details of the discussion that is taking place in the conference call.
It is therefore desirable to develop an improved conference call system which facilitates and/or improves the re-connection process of a user when they are involuntarily disconnected from a conference call.
It is known to arrange a server (otherwise known as a conference centre or conference bridge) of a conference call to detect when a participant of the conference call has become disconnected from the conference call, and to call the disconnected user in order to re-establish the user's connection to the conference call. This approach, however, does not address the issues associated with pre-pay billing methods used by service providers to bill users for calls. Equally this approach cannot distinguish between unintentional and deliberate disconnection of a conference call.
In fact, pre-pay billing methods are particularly problematic for the field of conference calling, since conference calls are often provided as a premium service and are therefore charged on a higher tariff. Pre-pay users must knowingly accept the higher cost call and also be ready for the moment when they run out of credit.
A connect/reconnect method based on the conference centre calling a disconnected user will struggle to integrate with the pre-pay billing system. This pre-pay billing system will need to stop the call as soon as the credit grace period expires, and will therefore require complex system integration with the conference centre.
Accordingly, a more simple solution to the problem of reconnecting involuntarily disconnected conference call users is desirable. It is also desirable to develop a solution that may be implemented with existing pre-pay billing methods, and/or will not require further complex integration with existing billing or communication systems.